5 Ways Pinterest Can Help Your Career ~ Social Media For Business Mag

While many think of Pinterest as the site your mom uses to save casserole recipes and wreath making tutorials, there is much more to it than meets the eye. Although it’s true that 85 percent of the 100 million active users on Pinterest are women, the five-year-old “visual bookmarking and discovery platform” boasts an incredible amount of resources that nobody should ignore.

One of the lesser discussed uses of Pinterest is its ability to help you with your career. Whether you’re updating your resume, trying to find a job, or in need of career advice, Pinterest has an overwhelming amount of resources available. We’ve dug through the best pinboards, Pins, and Pinners to round up the ways Pinterest can help you stay pinspired as you navigate your career path.

1. Resume and cover letter inspiration

One of the most time-consuming and challenging parts of the job search process is building a professional resume and cover letter. These days, a basic Times New Roman list of your accomplishments and past jobs just won’t cut it. Thankfully, Pinterest has an abundance of resume and cover letter templates and examples for your use. Simply typing “resume” into the search bar results in thousands of free and paid templates, as well as links to numerous articles providing tips and tricks for creating the perfect resume and cover letter. Some of our favorite boards for resume templates include:

Not only can you find thousands of resume templates on Pinterest, but many are using Pinterest boards as their actual resume. The visual nature of Pinterest means that you are able to show, rather than tell, your work and accomplishments. This portfolio-esque approach is especially effective for those in creative and visual fields, such as designers, illustrators, artists, and photographers, as they can effortlessly create an aesthetically pleasing display of their work. For your inspiration, here are some great examples of visual Pinterest boards:

Cecelia Myers’ Design Portfolio

Jeanne Hwang Lam’s Digital Resume

2. Career expertise

A major appeal of social media is the ability for users to connect with celebrities, influencers, and top experts in any field—Pinterest is no exception. Many career experts are using the site to share and consolidate their knowledge, resources, and expertise that will no doubt help you navigate the job world. You can find information on a variety of topics, such as: how to find a job, how to negotiate a salary, what to wear to your job interview, networking tips, and countless others.

Pinterest’s visual and organizational platform means that many career experts have numerous boards grouped by themes such as resume templates, interview preparation, aptitude and personality tests, inspirational quotes, and more. Some examples of this include:

Career Bliss

Levo

3. Interview SOS

One of the most anxiety-ridden aspects of any job application process is, without a doubt, the interview process. The idea of going into a room to be judged by a group of strangers is the stuff nightmares are made of, yet many survive this ordeal every single day. While there are never any surefire ways to rock an interview, the overwhelming amount of resources available on Pinterest will help you to be as prepared as possible. Everything from interview etiquette and lists of possible interview questions to interview wardrobe advice can be found on pinboards around the world. Some particularly great ones include:

Levo

Monster.ca

4. Education

One of Pinterest’s biggest draws is its abundance of how-to and DIY content. While that vegan cupcake you learned how to make on Pinterest was great, the site has so much more to offer in the way of teaching you new career skills and knowledge.

A simple search for boards entitled “free course” will garner hundreds of results from organizations and schools, but personal users who have used Pinterest to bookmark free courses and classes for themselves. It’s worth noting here that because users are choosing to Pin the content, which in this case happens to be free courses, the chances of finding quality materials are higher. Pinterest users are most likely not going to save and bookmark content of low-value, because not only would that obviously be unhelpful to them, but their Pins are shared and act as a reflection of the user. If you’re sharing low-quality content, your followers will see that and take you less seriously, as well as question your judgement and clout. Some of the best resources on Pinterest for knowledge-building include:

Naomi Hoffman “ArtEdu – Free Courses”

The Talent Mill “Free Courses”

Brenda Morris “Online Education”

5. Personal branding

As you work towards building your career, creating a personal brand is a solid way to build your reputation and credibility, while also showcasing your unique personality. Pinterest is great for this because you can use pinboards to showcase personality traits that are not necessarily professional in nature, but which contribute to your overall personal brand. For example, Fast Company spoke to Paul Biedermann, owner and creative director of re:DESIGN, about how he uses the site for his personal branding efforts. Biedermann explains, “Pinterest is the perfect visual complement to the rest of my social media presence, rounding out my personal brand. As a designer and visual communicator, not only can I feature my own work—showing rather than telling—but I also bring attention to the kind of work I support and believe in.”

Especially interesting is the fact that in creating your personal brand on Pinterest, you can help drive traffic to your professional website. Pinterest drives more traffic than LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google+ combined, so Pinning your own content to build your personal brand is not a bad idea. For example, if you are a writer, creating a board of your best articles that link directly back to your site takes advantage of Pinterest’s high discoverability. If interested in taking this to the next level, you can sign up for a Pinterest business account and have access to their built-in analytics here. You will be able to see your top performing Pins, metrics, and website insights, which can prove invaluable for not only building, but growing your personal brand.

Here are some more ways you can use Pinterest to help round out your own personal brand:

Make a reading list. Create pinboards and Pin around what you are currently reading, or books and pieces you have previously enjoyed. This can help present you as a knowledgeable professional.
Showcase your personal taste. The unique way you curate your pinboards and the content you choose to Pin reflects upon your overall personal brand. Ensure your Pins are high quality, innovative, and aesthetically pleasing, and allow your brand to be humanized by the content you have curated.
Create a visual resume. As discussed above, many are using pinboards as a visual representation of their work. If your work could benefit from this type of resume, it’s a surefire way to majorly contribute to your personal brand.
Cross promote. Use your social media accounts to share links to your Pinterest boards, and vice versa. A great way to do this is to take advantage of the ability to Pin Instagram posts, which will drive traffic to your Instagram account and website, and contribute to your personal branding efforts.

Some great Pinterest boards that offer further information and resources for building your personal brand are:

Levo League “Personal Branding Tips for Millennials”